This invention relates to fluid spray equipment, more particularly it relates to rotary fluid spray apparatus for car washes.
Various rotary fluid spray apparatus have been employed for providing pressurized fluid spray to vehicles in automatic car washes. These apparatus spray fluids under pressure for cleaning, rinsing, waxing or other functions. These mechanisms are particularly appropriate for vehicle washes which do not utilize cloth or other materials which make contact with the exterior of the vehicle. In such "non-contact" automatic car washes a number of such apparatus will be utilized each with one or more spray nozzles directed toward the vehicle with the nozzle being rotated about an axis substantially parallel to the nozzle discharge direction to create a fast moving wide circular spray pattern. The fluid spray mechanism is moved longitudinally along the vehicle, either by moving the spray mechanism or the vehicle such that broad swaths on the vehicle exterior may be covered on each pass. Prior art rotary spray mechanisms have been high maintenance items requiring regular maintenance or replacement with seals being a particularly vulnerable portion of the mechanisms.